TRAVERS, Benjamin. A synopsis of the diseases of the eye, and their treatment.3rd ed. (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, 1824).(Dr. Richard Travers is a direct descendant of the author.)An instructional manual for a 1901 version of Viagra and a pamphlet denouncing it as a fraud, a banned play about female sexuality and the published love letters of the playwright, and a volume on venereal disease by a surgeon who may have deliberately infected himself with gonorrhea. These are just a few of the intriguing items found in an enormous collection of rare books and ephemera on the history...
Rare Bamboo-Strip Books Discovered in Chinese Tomb
Archaeologists in China have discovered a trove of rare bamboo-strip books uncovered within an excavated tomb in Yancang, a village near Jingmen in Hubei province.Experts believe the site dates back to the Warring States Period (475 BC to 221 BC) and hope that the books will reveal the name of the entombed owner; it is possible that the strips contain a written introduction by the owner of the tomb, "like a letter of recommendation the deceased would carry with them to the underworld to give Yanluo, the god of death," Shen Haining, director of the provincial cultural heritage bureau, told...
J.D. Salinger Files Lawsuit From Grave
BOOK PATROL ALERT: SALINGER DIES, FILES LAWSUIT.Reclusive and litigious author J.D. Salinger, just hours after having been reported dead by the New York Times, appeared in ethereal form in New York Superior Court to file suit against the Times and a number of other major media outlets for the unauthorized reporting of his demise. Cornered in a men's room stall shortly thereafter, Mr. Salinger responded by sliding a written mimeographed statement under the door to waiting reporters, in which he stated:"Reports of my death are MINE and MINE ALONE, and any unauthorized reporting of this alleged event will be considered...
What Did Noah’s Ark Really Look Like?
When I have trouble falling asleep, I count animals marching into Noah’s ark. After three hours, I still have beasts to account for, long after sheep have schelepped into the cargo hold.I have no idea what Athanasius Kircher, the 17th century polymath, did when he needed to inspire the sandman; it appears that he was kept up all night speculating about everything concerning Noah.The procession of life into the Ark.He published the results of his obsession with Noah in 1675. Arca Noe was and remains the most detailed account of Noah and his ark from that period in scientific inquiry,...
Skirts In Dust Jackets: Indie Women, Wayward Wives, Soiled Damsels, Sassy Lassies, and Hard-Boiled Dames
Meherin, Elenore. "Sandy." Gosset & Dunlap, 1926."She defied life's Conventions in her search for THRILLS!"Photoplay edition.Women on the move, on the make, on the day shift, on the night shift, on their feet, on their backs, on the go, on their way, onward and upward.Sometimes a rare book catalog is organized like a library exhibition, the dealer/cataloger as curator to a wide variety of books that when grouped together tell a compelling story.West, Mae. The Constant Sinner (Babe Gordon). Macaulay, 1931.4th printing, first with ths title and dust jacket.The story of a dope-dealing prostitute who has anaffair with a black...